The first impression was a negative one, which happened when I first got in it. The steering wheel isn't nearly as thick as my 03, and instead of having a tacky leather feel, it has a hard plastic feel. The radio buttons on the wheel are very cheap feeling and plastic as well. The acceleration is definitely better, and the handling is the same. The only other difference I have noticed is it gets worse MPG than my 03 by about 1-2 miles. BTW I traded a 4WD limited for the same.
Traded 03 for 08 My thoughts so far
- Thread starter nebfan
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paraordnance
New member
nebfan said:
I will never trade my 04 for 06+ I just dont like that bulky looking bamper and grill on newer ones
nebfan said:
Its interesting that you say the steering controls are different, I drove an 09 the other day and they are identical to my 03 (except it had Bluetooth controls as well). The only difference I noticed on the steering wheel itself are the different seem locations for the leather. Also, what engine does it have? If you went from the V6 to the V8, yeah huge difference. If both have the V6, its the low gearing in the 5 speed that the 03 didn't have, it was running the old 4 speed back then.
Re: Re: Traded 03 for 08 My thoughts so far
True that! I like the fenders on ours better, they are very similar to the old 85-89 4Runners and pick-ups. I think the revision does make it blend into the Toyota line a little better, but makes it look LESS like a 4Runner. Honestly though, unless I totalled mine I wouldn't trade in for the same generation on any vehicle. Why pay 30-40k twice for the same thing?
paraordnance said:I will never trade my 04 for 06+ I just dont like that bulky looking bamper and grill on newer ones
True that! I like the fenders on ours better, they are very similar to the old 85-89 4Runners and pick-ups. I think the revision does make it blend into the Toyota line a little better, but makes it look LESS like a 4Runner. Honestly though, unless I totalled mine I wouldn't trade in for the same generation on any vehicle. Why pay 30-40k twice for the same thing?
Forenaftrunner
New member
If I remember correctly I think you went from a V8 to a V8. When I picked up my new 08 V8 just over a month ago, the mileage was 15-16. It's gradually increased up to 17-18 as the engine has broken itself in.
nebfan said:
That makes sense then. The old V8 in your '03 had much less HP than the newer V8s.
If you went from V6 to V6, then you probably wouldn't have noticed any difference because the engines make the same HP, although it appears the newer ones make less HP because of the way they rate HP now. The only real powertrain difference between an '03 V6 and a new '08 V6 is the extra gear in the transmission. But even then, the overall gear ratios are very similar, so differences in acceleration aren't even measurable.
Mark86
Super Moderator
I think the steering wheel and audio controls are the same for 2003 and 2009. Gas mileage is still too soon to tell because it is a new truck. You should see an improvement from the VVTI. It took until 10,000 miles until I saw "ok" gas mileage.
Good luck with your new truck.
Good luck with your new truck.
